NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Debris from an unknown source smashed a car windshield on the Cross Bronx Expressway Monday afternoon, police said.

The incident happened on the narrow, clogged eastbound side near Jerome Avenue. The windshield was completely smashed out at the center.

As CBS 2’s Lou Young reported, it was nearly an urban highway nightmare come true for Anthony Murphy, 48, who was driving the car on his way to work as a city bus driver.

He described the piece of falling debris that nearly took his life.

“It comes at you so fast. I just know that something black was coming toward my windshield. I couldn’t go nowhere; it went through,” Murphy said. “All I knew was that I can’t swerve and go to the side of the road; what I was trained to do.”

As CBS 2 spoke with Murphy on Monday night and he was still unnerved, talking as long as the camera was not pointed toward his face.

“The whole windshield shattered on me. I have glass everywhere. I have a couple of cuts,” Murphy said. “I’m happy to be alive.”

Murphy’s wife told CBS 2, and he confirmed, that help did not arrive for him quickly.

“He had to call three times, 911 three times before they came to get him,” said Murphy’s wife, Zuccini.

One of the ambulance crews at the scene told CBS 2 they were delayed by several different Cross Bronx accidents on their way to Murphy. The city highway is crowded, littered with debris, and perhaps crumbling in some places.

Earlier, first responders suspected a metal rod that supports a nearby overpass was to blame for the accident. But later, officials said the debris did not come from an overpass, and was believed to have come off a truck or another vehicle.